Monthly Archives: December 2013

Tijuana, the first Mexican city you cross as your are entering Mexico is a mix of good and bad. Let’s focus on the good. Thanks to Javier Plascencia, the food scene is growing and being recognized worldwide. From typical street food to the more upscale Baja Med cuisine, you can find almost anything your tongue desires.

Apart from food, the nightlife is fun and cheaper than what’s available in San Diego. There are countless bars and clubs which fill up every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night. The drinks are good and the party is late, much later than San Diego. Security is not an issue, one can go out at the Sexta or in the new Plaza Paseo Chapultepec without problem (it’s still safe to be cautious!)

(Picture coming soon)

The sports teams are a fun thing to check out. The Xolos (like “cholos” an Aztec fighting dog) were Mexico’s title winners last year, this year has been a little harder but the games are still fun and the ambiance is typical of a South American soccer crowd. The baseball team, the Toros, have just started playing again and their new stadium is very nice. Last season, the tickets were 50 pesos (less than 5 dollars!) and all is very safe.

Last year’s inauguration game was a once in a lifetime experience.

José Galicot has been trying to change the image of Tijuana by creating Tijuana Innovadora and Entijuanarte. Both are events that happen every two years, Tijuana Innovadora was in 2012 and 2014 and Entijuanarte 2011 and 2013. Both are great events with promote activity within and outside the community. They are meant to change foreigners’ image of this city. At last year’s Tijuana Innovadora, Blake Mycoskie of Toms and Steve Wozniack of Apple were a few of the invited speakers.

One of the panels of the many conferences. Picture taken from CECUT blog.

As you can see, Tijuana is an interesting city with lots going on. If you live in San Diego, make sure you come south to check it out!

As you can see, Mexico’s reputation is a lot worse than what it should really be. Mexico has lower crime rates than many cities in the US, including New Orleans, Chicago and St. Louis and many countries around the world, Bahamas, St Kitts and Nevis and the Dominican Republic. Some states don’t even have travel advisories!

I must note that Baja California has a mild travel advisory, which says it’s safe in the tourist areas but one must exercise caution when not in these, however I have never had a problem and both times we drove south, we did not encounter safety issues.

Recently, Mexico has had a bad reputation. Some of it has been deserved but a lot of the rumors that run wild are not true and should be ignored.

I have been living in Tijuana, one of the world’s most infamous cities for the past year, and I can promise that the bad press the city gets is not all people should worry about. Tijuana is a great city with great people who are trying to fix their city’s awful reputation. And what applies to the city also applies to most parts of the country; in particular Baja California.

Baja is a beautiful peninsula with much to offer. There is camping, hiking, surfing, whale watching, swimming, diving and many others things that can be done.

So please, check out this blog and stop thinking badly about Baja California. Come and join in on the adventure!

Illustrated map of Baja California with animals you can see on your trip